Rayvin

I think some people in the West truly believe in it, but the truth is that it can be highly politically inconvenient (palestine), and becomes extremely problematic when people are put in danger (inciting hatred). At the government level it's a sham, I'll give you that.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/12/west-ham-sam-allardyce-everton-roberto-martinez-fa-cup Sam Allardyce claiming greater tactical flexibility than most other managers here Such a bell end.

Here's the thread if anyone is bothered: http://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/29382-john-carver/ I've never been of the opinion that he was even that good to be honest, aside from his questionable displays of loyalty. I guess SBR swore by him but even so...

Was just having a bit of a scan back through the forum and came across the thread where Pardew unveiled Carver as the new assistant manager. Seems like everyone was well on board with him being signed up then. Are we just older and wiser now or has he lost the plot a bit in the past few years? Or would we never have wanted him as a manager anyway?

I was going for a slightly more diplomatic label.

Again though, remember that it's not in Ashley's interests to put Carver in charge and risk us getting relegated. This might be just too early in the season for him to take the calculated risk to be honest. Also, it's much cheaper to bring in a good manager with a good backroom team than it is to buy players; if he finds someone who can get the team performing, it'll benefit him in the long run. If I was him, I'd be prepared to spend a bit more on this appointment in order to provide stability and, more than anything, good value for money for player transfers (i.e. the players we buy are used correctly and appreciate in value).

ALso, why did our debt balloon so much once Ashley took over... I know he put a lot of money in, but I thought he was just cancelling out debts that were in place elsewhere?

Couldn't the £3m received for Pardew be used to cover all of that? They can't be paid that much ffs.

I think a lot of football fans are for one reason or another, very much led by the media. Everton have been a fairly recent 'crisis team' and so they're now inevitably tipped for relegation. I agree that it's ridiculous, but judging by your average fan's reactions to the Pardew era here, it doesn't seem as though critical analysis of news sources is a high priority.

Insightful.

Good bit of bonding with the father-in-law, that

I bet that's gone down well. It's true mind, I can't remember watching Sunderland ever play anything approaching attractive football. I may have blanked the Phillips era though, when they were admittedly a pretty good team.

I appreciate the pointers - I'll let you know my thoughts on the two you mentioned at least. And yes, I've signed up with Majestic as well so I'll give them a look.

It goes without saying really, but Fox News is an absolute disgrace.

I'd settle for the new manager not having to carry out a full squad overhaul following the sale of several key players.

Normally I get it from either the wine section in Fenwicks or some of the standalone wine stores you get in small country towns. Clitheroe has a particularly good one (not that it's worth visiting for any other reason really - I go quite frequently though as my g/f's family live there). I wouldn't say I have a preferred source as such, but you find much more variety in the smaller establishments than you would from supermarkets or anything like that. Anything closer to home that you'd recommend?

I thought the trailer looked pretty good actually - made me laugh a couple of times. Are those just exceptional highlights then, to draw adults in?

Thanks for the input. I'll start looking into what you've said, quite fancy giving both a try - I enjoy beer too tbf, but red wine has particularly got me in the past year or so, all the more now I've been able to try multiple different kinds.

I'm groundlessly confident that Ashley will have hired someone other than Carver within the next week or so. There's been no positive words said about Carver whatsoever.

What would you recommend from the French wines then? And I agree on the snobbery, but I had the feeling that if I went on about it too much on here I'd get pulled up on it very quickly I'll have a look out for a bottle of the Barolo anyway, not one that I've tried.

Wondered if Pardew might potentially do us a favour at the last and keep Palace up at their expense

So I got bought copious amounts of red wine over Christmas (fair way through a bottle currently) and have startlingly begun to appreciate the differences between certain kinds. I'm not sure I ever thought I'd get to the level of wine snobbery required to do this, but there it is. My favourite currently is Montepulciano. I think Italian reds seem to be my overall preference. Also discovered Bourbon this winter, which was a joyous moment...

A year ago I would have said the same thing but ultimately, I think it's one of those things where it actually bothers me less if I just accept that this is the way this stuff is. Agreed on your latter point - and I actually think the signs are good in that respect. Wenger doesn't look poised to make a move, and he's supposedly the only one interested.

Do we reckon Sunderland might yet get relegated, or is that wishful thinking? They're starting to look a bit precarious.